Appalling weather brings holiday misery for millions
Tuesday, 29 May 2007
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Sun-seekers and holidaymakers were left disappointed as downpours and blustery winds made it one of the wettest bank holiday weekends for years.
For the second time this month, May failed to deliver a hot and sunny long weekend, with central and southern England bearing the brunt of the foul weather. The most sodden place was St Catherine's Point on the Isle of Wight, where 74mm of rain fell over a 24-hour period which ended yesterday morning.
Liscombe in Somerset was drowned in 31mm of rain over the same night, while temperatures drop-ped to a chilly 8C in much of central and eastern England. According to the Met Office, the unlucky residents of High Wycombe were forced to endure temperatures as low as 5C.
The poor conditions disrupted a number of events up and down the country. More than 100,000 people had been expected to attend the Luton International Carnival, but it was called off because of the bad weather.
In Oxfordshire, the second day of the popular Spirit of Adventure airshow at Abingdon airfield, which promised the appearance of Spitfires, Tornados and Hercules aircraft, was called off due to heavy rain and cloud.
It was also bad news for sporting events, with the rain on Sunday wiping out all of the third day's play of the second Test between England and the West Indies. Heavy showers at Headingley, in Leeds, also interrupted yesterday's play, although they didn't stop Michael Vaughan's team from cantering to an emphatic victory.
Over the whole weekend Bournemouth saw its sandy beaches deserted, and conditions were so bad in Exmouth, Devon, that the resort's annual sand sculpture competition was cancelled.
The AA was called out to 11,000 breakdowns on Friday - compared with the usual 9,500 - as an estimated 18 million vehicles took to the roads. "We said that people would still make the most of their weekend and go off in their cars, and it looks like we were right," a spokesman, Gavin Hill-Smith, said.
The Association of British Travel Agents said a record 1.9 million people flew out of British airports to escape to sunnier climes. Spain was the most popular European destination with Florida being top of the long-haul resorts. The top five city-break destinations were Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin, Rome and Prague. L
William Hill cashed in on the wet weather with a flood of bets on the sporting events that did go ahead such as Lewis Hamilton's first Monaco Grand Prix and the football league play-offs.
The bad weather didn't extend everywhere yesterday. South-west England, west Wales, west Scotland and much of Northern Ireland experienced some sunshine. The conditions were much worse than the equivalent bank holiday last year, when temperatures reached a sunny 17C (62.6F) and the heaviest rainfall measured only 11mm.
